30 years

August 27th marked our 30th wedding anniversary.

30 years! 

I feel like I can say with all honesty that we've experienced the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.  Marriage is hard work.  It's also sanctifying.  It requires the hard things of ourselves like being honest with one another and by that I also mean transparent and vulnerable.  A willingness to be humble - willing to admit when you are wrong, willing to make the first move towards reconciling a difference.  It requires selflessness - a willingness to put the other one first - their needs or even simple preferences.  I'll be frank - even after 30 years, this must still be intentional.  Eric does a much better job of this than I do.  I can honestly say that he loves me as Christ loved the church.   I am so thankful for him. 

We were recently able to get away for a couple of days.  We had dreams of going away somewhere extra special (Paris?  Hawaii? ) but the Lord had other plans for us this year.  Honestly, I was just thankful we could still get away for a bit.  We chose our favorite inn on Whidbey Island.

While in the ferry line, we hopped out of our car and grabbed some "chowdah" from Ivar's to eat while on the ferry. 

After having hot smokey days all week, the weather took a turn for cool.  Only about 60 with light rain.  We didn't mind though, because we had had so much smoke in the air from the fires in California and Canada.  In fact, they said the air quality was comparable to smoking 7 packs of cigarettes, they also said it was worse than Beijing. (in other words...NASTY!)

We sat out on this lovely porch and drank coffee and chatted, and watched the local wildlife.

 We walked in the rain and held hands and looked in all the cute shops.   Eric loves a good antique shop like I do.  It's fun to find treasures.  We found a few.  We bought a vintage coffee can with pictures of people harvesting the coffee cherries, and a book trilogy of Flavious Josephus's works presented by an author from the late 1800s!

 We even found a very large heart rock. (not for sale 😉)

and another heart stamped into the cement sidewalk.  😍

and we sampled our favorite dark chocolate treats. 

I have a thing for shadows.  Not only do I just find them so fun and interesting, but to me they have a deeper meaning.  There is a song by my favorite music group called "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine".  This has been a difficult year.  Not just the accident itself, but the healing process too - (LOTS of doctor's appointments - good days and hard days) and then also all the hiccups that we've encountered with starting the business.  Sometimes it can feel like God is absent or not hearing our prayers, but the shadows prove He is there.  You can't very well have a shadow if the sun isn't there.  He is using the accident and other things (shadows) to grow my faith as I watch Him direct our path. 

Our actual anniversary night we ate at Salt Water Fish House.  Eric ordered some oysters on a half shell.  It was my first time ever having them.  They aren't my favorite, but they are his.  😛   While we waited for our dinner (fish tacos for me and crab cakes for him) we made up phrases from magnetic words they had on a wall next to us.  Considering the selection, I thought I did pretty good.

 When we first decided that we would go to "our" inn, we thought we would try kayaking one of the days, but then the weather was cold so we figured we'd have to wait until a different time all together, but it warmed up!  So around 9 am on our last day we walked to the kayak rentals.  The water was as smooth as glass.  A sea lion bumped our kayak and every now and again he would poke his head up nearby us.  We just hugged the coast line to play it safe since this was the first kayaking experience for both of us.  It was so much fun!

That brown building on the top with the three peaks is where we stayed...Saratoga Inn

We hit Mukilteo Coffee Roasters Cafe before catching the ferry home.  Great burgers (and burger wraps) and coffee.  It was a business meeting of sorts.  We discussed all that is left to do and tried to prioritized that list.   We're getting closer!

When we ride on the ferry, we often go up on deck for the sailing, but this time they had our car on the ramp, and even though the tires were chocked, it felt a little lot precarious so we opted to enjoy our ride in the car.  Still, though, we had a front row seat. 

We were greeted with a sweet homecoming message from the kids.

God is so good - So good to bring us together,  so good to keep us together.  I am just so thankful to the Lord and His grace on us.